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A doctor broke the pimple to try to drain it and drew marks on her face to measure whether the swelling increased. The intravenous antibiotics were continued.

On Monday, the doctor on rounds scraped off a scab that formed. After the doctor left, the Whittingtons noted what appeared to be a string or stick emerging from the spot. They left it alone, since the doctor hadn't done anything to it, Aaron said.

The two-inch feather pulled from Mya's neck which made its exit through a swollen infected pimple on her neck

Brave baby: The swelling on Mya's neck would have caused an immense amount of pain, but the brave girl cried mostly only when nurses have poked her

When Mya's pediatrician visited later that evening, however, she asked what it was. She then put on a pair of gloves and plucked a two-inch-long black feather from the swollen area of the child's neck.

They suspect, Whittington said, that the baby swallowed or inhaled the feather, which apparently pierced the inside of her cheek or throat and then, over time, her body forced it out the other way.

The Whittingtons had a down pillow on their bed, but Mya wasn't normally on it, and it's been in the couple's laundry room for months, Emma Whittington said.

It's headed for the trash.

Mya Whittington with her father Aaron, who said his daughter looked like Quasimodo when her face was swollen

'She's been pulling on the left side
of her face for a couple of months,' Emma said, but she suspected it was
teething or an ear infection.

In
her 20 years on the pediatric floor at the hospital, RN Sandra Mathis
has never seen the like, though she recalls a child coming in once with
hairbrush bristles stuck in its tonsils that had to be removed, from
chewing on a brush.

The
Whittingtons' doctor indicated the swelling had to be causing an
immense amount of pain, Emma said, but Mya cried mostly only when nurses
have poked her.

Her
ordeal isn't over yet, however. The swollen area has a hard knot in it
about four centimeters in size. If the knot doesn't break up on its own,
Mya is headed for surgery in Wichita to remove it.